“Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story” Premieres July 30.

On the evening of February 26, 2012, 17-year old Trayvon Martin was shot in the heart and killed by George Zimmerman. On April 11,2012, Zimmerman was arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder. A jury of 6 women, none of whom are Black, acquitted Zimmerman on July 13, 2013.

“Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story” is a 6-part documentary series that premieres on Monday, July 30, 2018 on Paramount and BET.

Co-directors Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason interviewed more than 100 people for the series, with twenty-some sources in Sanford alone. They employed an investigative team that included a former New York Times journalist and interviewed friends of Zimmerman, experts on the origins of Black Lives Matter; and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which helped identify how the case was discussed in white supremacist chat rooms and message boards.

Trayvon Martin’s death has prompted change and awareness. Furst and Nason also hope their documentary will shed light on “stand your ground” laws that now operate in more than 30 states.

The production of the documentary appeared in headlines when George Zimmerman threatened producer Shawn Carter/Jay-Z. Zimmerman is currently awaiting trial on a misdemeanor stalking charge of a private investigator.

Mark your calendars, or program reminders on your television and/or schedule to record.

I have questions Xena if you can help. Why was the jury just 6 people? Why was the jury all white? I would expect the Prosecutor to have at least some black mothers/fathers on there.Can the parents of Trayvon sue Zimmerman in a civil case for the death of their son and receive damages that could break him?
Thanks and Hugs

David,
It’s been awhile since the trial, but if I remember correctly, in Florida unless it’s a first degree murder trial or a capital case, there is an option for a 6 member jury panel. I’m unsure if the prosecution or defense chooses the option.

Regarding jury selection, if I remember correctly, that procedure went on for well over a week. There were challenged objections from both sides. Zimmerman had a jury selection expert sitting at the defense table. There were also two or three alternate jurors selected. One is a man but they too were all White.

Trayvon’s parents did not sue Zimmerman because one, he’s broke and still owes Mark O’Mara, his defense attorney, around $2 million. Two, although his defense attorneys allege that they did not use a stand your ground defense, the judge’s jury instructions contained wording straight from a SYG defense. In that law, if a defendant has been acquitted, he/she cannot be sued in a civil action for wrongful death.

Trayvon’s parents did receive a settlement from the HOA where Trayvon was killed, and from the security firm for failure to have operating cameras at the gates on the night that Trayvon was killed. So, they did receive some redress and they have put it to good use doing good for others and advocating against gun violence. I’m hoping that the documentary will address their work.

Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Have we forgotten? I haven’t … ‘On the evening of February 26, 2012, 17-year old Trayvon Martin was shot in the heart and killed by George Zimmerman. On April 11,2012, Zimmerman was arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder. A jury of 6 women, none of whom are Black, acquitted Zimmerman on July 13, 2013.’
Set for recording tonight!!

Strange how the events of that night don’t feel like they were so long ago. Perhaps because of all the attention brought to–and kept on–police shootings since.

I remember the day of the acquittal. My jaw dropped because I couldn’t believe the jury would do that. Zimmerman had so many chances to make another choice before he pulled the trigger, so many things he didn’t have to do that night and he chose to out of an over-inflated self importance. And a kid was killed for it.

Just thinking about it pisses me off. I’ll be watching tonight, that’s for sure.

Hi Chatty. Right — it doesn’t seem that long ago. It’s what brought me to the internet and why I started this blog so I can never forget. My initial interest was in stand your ground law, but after reading comments on the internet, it opened a truck load of issues.

I look forward to this documentary. The stand your ground defense will be reviewed again by the Florida Supreme Court after the re cent shooting of an unarmed man at a Florida convenience store just days ago with the shooter claiming self defense and the stand your ground law.

Yes, I heard about that shooting. Many of the online news sources that I read only allow so many free visits per month. Then if I want to read after reaching the monthly limit, I have to become a paid subscriber. Maybe tomorrow I can read those news sources again because I do want to follow-up on that incident. I saw the video on Twitter and at first, it appears that throwing the older man to the ground is an assault. I’m not so sure I would consider it a death threat unless the other man had ran up on him while he was on the ground. Then too, stand your ground does not give people the right to pick a fight and then pull a gun. What we need to know is what the shooter was saying to the woman in the car that the man overheard that caused him to react by throwing the older man to the ground.

The story is that the victim parked his car in a space designated for the handicapped. The shooter verbally attacked the woman in the car voicing his displeasure. The car owner shoved the man to the ground, the first to initiate physical violence. He was then backing away when the man who approached the woman in the car pulls his gun and shoots him. We are all armed here, especially in Florida. Stand your ground law is an invitation for a deadly shootout and should be reversed . Without a weapon there may have been a knock down drag out fight but the young father would not be dead. Without Stand Your Ground one might think twice about shooting someone over a fairly trivial incident.

The first segment started from the beginning with Trayvon visiting the Retreat at Twin Lakes. It talked about the housing market crash in Florida, the 3rd highest in the nation, and how Neighborhood Watch was actually Neighborhood Watch Black People. The segment included the reactions of Tracy and Sybrina when they were told that Trayvon was killed.

It spoke about how Zimmerman used stand your ground to avoid arrest, and how Bill Lee refused to release the 911 calls to Tracy and Sybrina. They went on to interview attorney Benjamin Crump who spoke on how he put a team together. Crump filed a petition with the court for the release of the 911 calls and after they were released, he distributed them to media outlets. He said it was the calls that got national media attention.

It gave me the creeps to hear Zimmerman’s non-emergency call about Trayvon. Oh — and they also brought out that Zimmerman had made numerous non-emergency calls previously — all on purported suspicious Black males, with one call being about kids playing in the street.

Episode 2 mainly focused on events that led to the arrest of George Zimmerman. While some of his supporters claim that stand your ground was not used at his trial, they miss the point that Zimmerman avoided being charged by using stand your ground in his defense. The program brought out in interviews that law enforcement did not want to be liable for arresting Zimmerman as long as he used that defense, and unless they could prove otherwise.

In the August 27th segment, I learned something I did not learn when following the trial. Mike O’Mara and Don West had deposed Rachel Jentel before trial. They knew that she could not write and read cursive. Don West intentionally asked her to read the letter at trial to humiliate her, and paint her as an uneducated and thus, an unreliable witness.